For two years the advice to Australian service businesses has been the same: AI Overviews are coming for your traffic, so panic accordingly.
We decided to check. We ran 65 live Google searches in Australia for the kind of terms a real customer types when they want to hire someone. “Electrician brisbane”. “Family lawyer sydney”. “Emergency plumber melbourne”. Then we recorded exactly what Google showed.
AI Overviews appeared on 3 of the 65 searches. That is 4.6%.
Meanwhile a local map pack appeared on 63 of them, and the first normal organic result was pushed down to fourth place on average. The threat to Australian service businesses in 2026 is real, but it is not the one everyone is writing about.
Key findings
- AI Overviews appeared on only 4.6% of Australian local service searches (3 of 65).
- All three AI Overviews were in solar. Legal, trades, medical and property returned zero across 52 searches.
- A local map pack appeared on 96.9% of searches (63 of 65), showing an average of 3 businesses.
- People Also Ask appeared on 92.3% of searches (60 of 65), which is twenty times more common than an AI Overview.
- The first organic result sits at absolute position 4.12 on average. On 41 of the 65 searches, three things appeared above the first normal blue link.
- Only 2 of 65 searches put an organic result in the top spot.
- Reddit appeared in the top 10 on 38.5% of Australian service searches (25 of 65), making it the single most common domain in the study.
- Real service businesses still hold 78.5% of the top 10 organic slots. Directories and comparison sites take 12.0%, forums and social take 5.7%.
- Solar has the least room for actual businesses. Only 61.5% of its top 10 slots go to a service business, against 92.3% in medical.
Method
We started from a set of 291 Australian service keywords with known search volume, covering solar, legal, trades, medical and property across twelve cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, the Gold Coast, Canberra, Newcastle, Hobart, Darwin, Geelong and Wollongong.
From that set we took the 13 highest-volume keywords in each industry, giving 65 searches. Every keyword had at least 100 monthly searches.
We then ran each one as a live desktop Google search set to location Australia and language English, on 31 July 2026, using the DataForSEO SERP API, capturing the top 20 results and every SERP feature present. All 65 returned data with no errors.
For the “who owns the top 10” analysis we classified all 650 organic listings into four groups: real service businesses, directories and comparison sites, forums and social platforms, and government or media sites.
One important caveat, stated up front
This study looks at commercial local service searches. It does not look at informational searches.
AI Overviews are far more common on questions like “how do solar panels work” or “what does a conveyancer do”. Our finding is not that AI Overviews are rare in general. It is that they are rare on the searches where an Australian customer is trying to hire someone. Those are two different things and we do not want the number quoted as the first when it measures the second.
What Google actually shows for Australian service searches
| SERP feature | Searches showing it | Share of 65 searches |
|---|---|---|
| Organic results | 65 | 100% |
| Related searches | 65 | 100% |
| Local map pack | 63 | 96.9% |
| People Also Ask | 60 | 92.3% |
| Popular products | 15 | 23.1% |
| Discussions and forums | 10 | 15.4% |
| AI Overview | 3 | 4.6% |
The local pack is the story. It appears on almost every search, it shows three businesses, and it sits above everything else.
For an Australian service business, this means your Google Business Profile is doing more work than your website on the searches that matter most. A business that ranks first organically but does not appear in the map pack is below three competitors before the customer has scrolled.
AI Overviews by industry
| Industry | Searches | AI Overview | Local pack | People Also Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar | 13 | 23.1% | 84.6% | 84.6% |
| Legal | 13 | 0.0% | 100% | 100% |
| Trades | 13 | 0.0% | 100% | 92.3% |
| Medical | 13 | 0.0% | 100% | 84.6% |
| Property | 13 | 0.0% | 100% | 100% |
Solar is the exception, and it makes sense. Solar searches carry a research component that plumbing does not. Someone searching “solar panels melbourne” wants to understand rebates, payback periods and system sizes before they choose an installer. Google reads that as a question worth answering.
Nobody searching “emergency plumber sydney” wants an essay. They want a phone number. Google knows this, which is why it serves a map pack instead.
The lesson for Australian businesses is that AI Overview risk tracks how much explaining your service needs. If customers research before they buy, expect AI Overviews. If they call in a panic, expect a map pack.
Who gets cited when an AI Overview does appear
Only one of the three AI Overviews returned its source list. For “solar panels melbourne”, Google cited six sources:
- solar.vic.gov.au (Victorian government)
- reddit.com
- solarchoice.net.au (comparison site)
- racv.com.au (motoring and energy body)
- solarcalculator.com.au (tool)
- solargain.com.au (installer)
Only one of those six is an actual solar installer. The rest are government, community, comparison and tool sites.
That is a small sample and we will not over-claim from it. But it points at something consistent with what we see elsewhere: when AI systems answer a commercial question, they reach for third-party sources rather than the businesses selling the thing. Being cited means being written about, not just writing about yourself.
How far down the first organic result really sits
| Position of first organic result | Number of searches |
|---|---|
| 1st on the page | 2 |
| 2nd | 3 |
| 4th | 41 |
| 5th | 18 |
| 6th | 1 |
On 63 of 65 searches, something appears above the first organic result. Usually that something is three map pack listings.
This is the number that should worry an Australian service business, not the AI Overview figure. Ranking first organically for “electrician perth” puts you fourth on the page.
Reddit is now a top-10 fixture in Australian service search
Reddit appeared in the top 10 organic results on 25 of 65 searches. No other domain came close. The next most common was solarcalculator.com.au on 8 searches.
| Industry | Searches with Reddit in the top 10 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Property | 9 of 13 | 69.2% |
| Solar | 7 of 13 | 53.8% |
| Trades | 5 of 13 | 38.5% |
| Legal | 4 of 13 | 30.8% |
| Medical | 0 of 13 | 0% |
Seven in ten Australian property searches now surface a Reddit thread on page one. Medical is the only industry where Reddit never appeared, which likely reflects Google applying stricter quality rules to health results.
This matters for two reasons. First, a Reddit thread takes an organic slot that used to belong to a business. Second, and more importantly, those threads are exactly the kind of source AI systems read when deciding who to recommend. A thread where three Australians say your company was great is doing work you cannot do on your own website.
Who owns the top 10 in Australian service search
| Type of site | Listings | Share of 650 slots |
|---|---|---|
| Real service businesses | 510 | 78.5% |
| Directories and comparison sites | 78 | 12.0% |
| Forums and social | 37 | 5.7% |
| Government and media | 25 | 3.8% |
This is the good news in the study. Despite everything, actual businesses still hold nearly four in five organic slots on Australian service searches. The page one apocalypse has not happened.
But it is uneven.
| Industry | Top 10 slots held by a real service business |
|---|---|
| Medical | 92.3% |
| Legal | 90.0% |
| Trades | 77.7% |
| Property | 70.8% |
| Solar | 61.5% |
Solar is the hardest market in Australia to rank in as an actual installer. Nearly four in ten page-one slots go to comparison sites, calculators, government pages and Reddit. Medical is the easiest, where nine in ten slots go to real clinics.
If you sell solar in Australia, you are not really competing with other installers on page one. You are competing with solarquotes.com.au, solarchoice.net.au, top10solarcompanies.com.au and the Victorian government.
What Australian service businesses should actually do
Based on what this data shows, in order of impact.
1. Treat your Google Business Profile as your most important page. A map pack appeared on 96.9% of these searches and it sits above everything. Reviews, categories, photos and service areas do more for you here than another blog post.
2. Stop measuring success as “we rank first”. First organic means fourth on the page on most Australian service searches. Measure how often you appear in the map pack instead.
3. Answer the People Also Ask questions. They appear on 92.3% of searches, twenty times more often than AI Overviews. This is the cheapest visibility available and almost nobody targets it deliberately.
4. Get talked about on Reddit and in comparison sites, rather than trying to outrank them. They occupy 17.7% of page one between them, and they are the sources AI systems quote. You will not beat solarquotes.com.au for “solar quotes”. You can be the company it recommends.
5. Judge your AI Overview risk by how much your service needs explaining. If your customers research before buying, like solar, prepare for AI Overviews now. If they call in an emergency, like plumbing, spend that effort on the map pack instead.
Limitations
- 65 searches is a modest sample. It is enough to show that AI Overviews are uncommon on these searches, not enough to put a precise percentage on it. Read 4.6% as “rare”, not as an exact rate.
- We tested commercial local service searches only. Informational searches show AI Overviews far more often and are not represented here.
- Desktop only. Mobile SERPs differ, and most Australian service searches happen on mobile.
- A single point in time, 31 July 2026. Google changes SERP composition frequently, and AI Overview rollout has moved quickly.
- AI Overviews load asynchronously. It is possible a small number were present but not captured.
- Our four-way classification of 650 domains involved judgement calls at the edges, for example whether a franchise network counts as a service business or a directory.
- Two of the three AI Overviews did not return their source lists, so the citation analysis rests on a single example.
Frequently asked questions
How often do AI Overviews appear in Australian search results?
On commercial local service searches, rarely. In this study of 65 Australian service searches conducted on 31 July 2026, AI Overviews appeared on 3 of them, or 4.6%. All three were solar searches. AI Overviews are considerably more common on informational questions, which this study did not test.
Do AI Overviews affect Australian tradies and lawyers?
Not much yet, on the searches that generate work. Across 26 trades and legal searches we recorded zero AI Overviews. Both categories returned a local map pack on 100% of searches, which is the feature actually taking attention.
What is the most common thing on an Australian service search page?
The local map pack, on 96.9% of searches, followed by People Also Ask on 92.3%. Both are far more common than AI Overviews at 4.6%.
Where does the first organic result appear on Australian service searches?
At an average absolute position of 4.12. On 41 of 65 searches the first organic listing was fourth on the page, sitting below three map pack results. Only 2 of 65 searches had an organic result in the top position.
Why does Reddit rank so well in Australia?
Reddit appeared in the top 10 on 38.5% of the Australian service searches we tested, rising to 69.2% in property. Google has increasingly favoured first-hand discussion for commercial research queries. The practical effect is that community recommendations now occupy page one slots that used to go to businesses.
How do I get my business recommended by AI instead of just ranked on Google?
Be cited by the sources AI systems read. In the one AI Overview in this study that returned its sources, five of the six were third-party: government, Reddit, comparison sites and a calculator tool. Only one was an installer. Reviews, mentions in comparison sites, and genuine community discussion carry more weight for AI recommendation than your own marketing pages.
Should Australian businesses still invest in local SEO in 2026?
Yes, and more heavily in the Google Business Profile specifically. A map pack appeared on almost every commercial service search we tested and occupied the space above the first organic listing. Real businesses still hold 78.5% of the organic top 10, so the ranking opportunity has not disappeared either.
How to cite this study
You are welcome to use these figures in your own articles, reports and presentations. Please link back to this page so readers can see the method and the limitations.
Suggested citation: Uprise Digital (2026). AI Overviews in Australian Service Search: what Google actually shows on 65 commercial local searches. Published 31 July 2026.
Journalists and researchers who want the search-level dataset, including the full SERP composition for each of the 65 searches, can contact us and we will send it through.
